Portfolio Insights:“The College’s Endowment consists of approximately 230 individual funds established for a variety of purposes and is included in the College’s investments and assets and assets limited as to use (Note 6). The endowment includes both donor-restricted endowment funds and funds designed by the Board of Trustees to function as endowments.

Investments without readily determinable values consist of fund-of-funds, investments in private equity companies, partnership, and limited liability companies and are included with investments at fair value.” (Source)

1) Eckerd College donors have made gifts and pledges to the Many Experiences, One Spirit comprehensive campaign – the largest in the College’s history – of $81 million, which exceeds the $80 million goal. The announcement came during the College’s May 2011 Board of Trustees meeting, nearly six weeks ahead of the official close of the Campaign on June 30.

“The impact of this Campaign so far has been nothing short of extraordinary, and the donors who have invested in the College despite challenging economic times, have made enthusiastic endorsements of our mission,” said Donald R. Eastman III, President of Eckerd College. “It is due in great part to the Campaign that the College is in the best financial position in its history. That success also contributed a good deal to our achieving reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In addition, the Campaign has contributed to the strong commitment and high level of involvement of Eckerd’s Board, alumni, parents, faculty and staff, which is without compare.” (Source)

2) The mission of Eckerd College is to provide excellent, innovative undergraduate liberal arts education and lifelong learning programs in the unique Florida environment, within the context of a covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The College expects its students to acquire a broad knowledge of past and present human cultures and of the rich and varied perspectives of different academic areas.

The College expects its students to engage intellectually with the enduring questions of purpose, value, and meaning and to reflect seriously on the spiritual dimension of human existence.

The College expects its students to acquire the intellectual depth appropriate to a baccalaureate education in a single discipline or subject, including mastery of a particular body of knowledge and an understanding of its principal modes of inquiry.

The College expects its students to deepen their awareness and comprehension of two central issues: sustaining the natural environment, and fostering cross-cultural understanding and respect for diversity in a global society. (Source)

3) Eckerd College has successfully fulfilled the $25 million Collier Challenge. In May 2006, Miles Collier, board of trustees chairman for Eckerd College and managing partner of Naples-based Collier Enterprises, and his wife, Parker, gave $25 million to Eckerd College. This was the largest gift in the history of Eckerd College, a nationally acclaimed private liberal arts college in Florida. A member of Eckerd College’s Board of Trustees since 1988, Collier served as chairman from 1992-1995, and regained his role as chairman in July 2000 and has been serving ever since.

The Collier Challenge matched all gifts and pledges of $25,000 or more to the priorities of “Many Experiences, One Spirit: The Campaign for Eckerd College,” which includes the sciences, the arts, student life and the College’s endowment. Since the campaign’s launch more than $73 million has been raised and Eckerd is on track to reach its total goal of $80 million this year.

“With more than a year left in the Campaign, we are well-positioned to fulfill our campaign goal, and the generosity and foresight of the Colliers was an immensely important motivator,” says Donald R. Eastman III, president at Eckerd College. (Source)

4) The 29th Annual Eckerd College Marine Yard Sale will be held on Saturday, March 14 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Eckerd Waterfront, 4200 54th Ave. S, St. Petersburg.

All proceeds will support the Eckerd College Search and Rescue Team (EC-SAR), the volunteer student organization founded in 1971 that provides free maritime search and rescue to the Tampa Bay boating community. All team members receive extensive training in basic radio communication skills, seamanship, technical rescue, emergency medicine and navigation.

It is the only college marine rescue service in the country. EC-SAR received widespread attention recently when team members recovered the body of 5-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck after her father allegedly threw her from a bridge leading to the Sunshine Skyway. It was one of more than 600 incidents the team responds to annually. Student volunteers told the Associated Press last year that they learn invaluable lessons in life, leadership and their place in the world. (Source)

5) The 11th annual Eckerd College Writers’ Conference was held from January 17 to January 24, 2015, at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. The conference offered lectures, panels, roundtable discussions, readings, and workshops in fiction and creative nonfiction. The faculty included fiction writers Andre Dubus III, Laura Lippman, Attica Locke, Lori Roy, Les Standiford, and Sterling Watson; and creative nonfiction writer Ann Hood. The cost of the conference was $700, which did not include lodging or meals. Limited housing ($592 for single occupancy for the week) was available on a first come, first served basis. Scholarships were available. Using the online submission system, writers submitted a writing sample of up to 25 pages and a description of writing experience with a $25 application fee by December 1. (Source)

About Richard C. Wilson

INC 500

FAMILY OFFICE CLUB

The Family Office Club is the #1 largest membership-based community of family office professionals. With over 1,500 registered family offices we have more billionaire family offices, centimillionaire families, and single family office members than our top two competitors combined. Our industry leading website (FamilyOffices.com), a weekly podcast on iTunes, newsletter, webinars, quarterly events, and authored the bestselling book in the industry is what drives membership.